Beverage mixing and dispensing system



May 2, 1967 F. WELTY 3 ,317,084

BEVERAGE MIXING AND DISPENSING SYSTEM Filed June 8, 1965 qr. INVENTOR. ff FRANK WELTY ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,317,084 BEVERAGE MIXING AND DISPENSING SYSTEM Frank Welty, Youngstown, Ohio, assignor to The Vendo Company, Kansas City, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Filed June 8, 1965, Ser. No. 462,348 4 Claims. (Cl. 22257) This invention relates to improved beverage dispensing equipment and more particularly to a system which is more versatile in its application than systems now in use and which when used to mix the beverage at the serving locale provides simplified and improved arrangements for accurately proportioning the dispensing of flavoring syrup, for example, to the flow of mixing water, whether plain or carbonated. It has heretofore been proposed to pre-mix beverages with plain or carbonated water at the bottlers and to distribute the same to the places of consumption in sealed containers and under inherent pressure in the case of carbonated beverages to retain the carbonating gas therein. At the place of serving and consumption, apparatus is provided to apply an expellent pressure to the container (commonly a source of 00 under pressure), to cool the beverage by a coil immersed in a refrigerant water bath, for example, and to dispense the beverage through an outlet faucet which, if carbonated drinks are to be handled, must be provided with means to gradually reduce the pressure of the beverage before the dispensing nozzle of the faucet is reached because otherwise there would be excessive loss of carbonation. It is now proposed by this invention to add to the above outlined prior system simple yet readily adaptable components which, if desired, will enable the prior system to dispense drinks mixed at the serving location from syrup shipped in the aforementioned sealed containers and from local water which may be either plain, slightly carbonated, or highly carbonated. The prior art basic system is known in the industry as the pre-mix system while the local mixing system made possible by the present invention will be hereinafter generically referred to as a post-mix system.

The present invention adds to the known pre-mix system, a pilot-operated valve to supply flavoring syrup to the o'utflowing stream with each opening of the final dispensing valve and faucet- Further, the invention adds means to accurately proportion the flow of water and syrup and this is preferably done by means of flow-control valves in both the water and syrup supply conduits or pass-ages. If carbonated drinks are desired, a carbonator may be added in the form of a closed carbonating tank positioned in the refrigerated water bath and supplied with plain water under pressure from a motor-driven pump positioned outside the bath. The same source of CO pressure may, in this system, be used both as the expellant in the portable syrup container and as the source of carbonating gas at.the carbonator.

In order that the system may be made fully automatic, requiring only the opening of the single-passage final dispensing valve to produce a mixed drink of accurately regulated strength at the dispensing nozzle, the above referred to pilot-operated valve has its operating part connected into the fluid stream so that when the final outlet valve is opened and liquid begins to flow the resulting pressure drop between spaced points in the liquid passage will operate the pilot valve to initiate the supply of syrup.

The above outlined carbonated system is highly advantageous since the degree of carbonation in the dispensed drink may be readily varied as desired, without changing the strength of the drink simply by regulating the pressure of the CO gas supplied to the carbonator, it being well known that the proportion of. gas absorbed in water is a function of both pressure and temperature. If, however, the plain water pressure to the pump is high or if the same carbonator is to be used to service a multiple faucet installation and it is desired to furnish low carbonated water to one or the other of the faucets, the present invention teaches how the highly carbonated output of the carbonator may be blended with plain water to supply the low carbonated water where desired. The manner in which this is accomplished will be explained more in detail below.

The manner in which the principles of the invention accomplishes the above objects can be better understood from a consideration of the accompanying drawing wherein a beverage mixing and dispensing system employing the principles of the invention is shown in schematic outline with the essential components of the system shown more in detail and in larger scale.

In the drawing, reference numeral 10 designates an insulated tank to receive the refrigerating water bath used to cool the beverage. This bath has immersed in it the evaporating coil 11 of a compressor type of refrigerant, the compressor and condenser of which is not shown herein but which may conveniently be housed below the tank 10. Also located in the water bath is a cooling coil 12 for the beverage mixing water, a carbonator 13, and the shank 14 of a beverage dispensing faucet 15,

The carbonator 13 is of the closed tank type having an inlet jet 16 controllably supplied with plain water under pressure from a source 17 through a pump 18 and a check valve 19. The pump 18 is driven by a motor 20 under the control of a liquid level device 21. Also supplied to the upper portion of the tank of the carbonator 13 through conduit 22 is a supply of carbonating gasCO under pressure, as determined by a pressure regulator 23. The gas is initially supplied through a conduit 24 which may lead from a pressurized bottle as is well understood in the art.

The carbonator above described is already known and does not per se form a part of the presentdnvention but its inclusion herein is necessary for an understanding of the invention. Under the pressure of the gas, the incoming jet of water at 16 riles up and foams the water in the tank 13 so that this water absorbs a controlled amount of the gas as determined by the pressure set at the regulator 23. The liquid level control 21 operates to maintain the water in the tank 13 between predetermined levels, turning on the pump motor 20 when the level falls below the lower electrode 21' and turning off the motor when the level reaches the upper electrode 21". During this filling period the water in the tank 13 is, of course, carbonated and it retains its carbonation due to the continuation of the gas pressure applied.

A closed shipping container is shown schematically at 25 having an upper inlet 26 for an expellant gas connection and a bottom outlet 27. In the pre-mix system, as above outlined, this container 25 would be filled under pressure with a fully mixed carbonated beverage and the outlet 27 would be connected directly to the entry end of the cooling coil 12 and the carbonator would not be used. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, however, wherein the system is set up for post-mix operation, the container 25 will hold a supply of flavoring syrup and the outlet 27 is connected to the inlet of a pilot-operated flow control valve 28, the construction and operation of which will be explained in detail below.

It is well known that faucets which dispense carbonated beverages whether mixed drinks or beer must have means to gradually reduce the pressure and velocity of the beverage before it reaches the dispensing nozzle, otherwise the impact of the liquid on the interior of the consumers glass causes a much too high loss of carbonation. In the faucet illustrated, this reduction of pressure and velocity is partially accomplished in a coil 29 of small diametered tubing which is housed within the shank 14 of the faucet and connected to the outlet end of the cooling coil 12. This coil discharges into a space 30 in the shank and thence through a passage 31 into a passage 32. The outlet end of this passage 32 is enlarged to receive a tubular type of fitting 33 over and through which the beverage flows to discharge into an outlet cavity 34. From the outlet cavity 34 the beverage flows through a valve 35 which is opened and closed by a handle 36, the beverage flowing downward through the discharge nozzle 37 into the consumers glass at the time of serving.

The carbonated water from the tank 13 is led into the cooling coil 12 through check valve 38 and flow control valve 39, the latter being of the kind known in the art which passes a predetermined quantity of water per unit of time regardless of variations in the pressure of the incoming water. In the present application, how ever, this valve 39 may be replaced by a simple metering valve since the pressure of the source is already maintained constant by means of the regulator 23. As will presently appear, the function of the pilot-operated flow control valve 28 is to supply syrup to the water stream upon each opening of the faucet 15 and in precise proportion to the quantity of water passed. While the control and syrup dispensing conduits leading from the valve 28 may be connected to various points of the system, the dispensing faucet structure may conveniently serve as connection points for two of the three conduits required.

Valve 28 has a tubular body 40 in which is slideably mounted a plunger 41 having an annular type of flexible diaphragm 42 surrounding its girth intermediate its ends. Plunger 41 carries a valving stem 43 which cooperates with an orificed valve seat 44. The lower part of stem 43 lies in a cavity 45 to which is connected the outlet 27 of the transfer tank 25, as shown. The plunger 41 and consequently the valving stem 43 are arranged to be actuated upon the appearance of any pressure drop at two spaced points along the flow of mixing water or beverage in the system as occurs with each opening of the faucet 15. Thus, the upper end of the plunger 41 and thus also the upper surface of the diaphragm 42 may be connected through conduit 46 to the space 32 within the faucet structure while the lower end of the plunger 41 and the under surface of the diaphragm 42 is connected to the inlet of the cooling coil 12 through conduit 47. The plunger 41 is biased downwardly to hold the valve 43, 44 closed by a light coil spring 48. However, when water begins to flow in the system there is a substantial pressure drop between the inlet of the cooling coil 12 and the outlet end of the restriction tube 29, as detected at space 32 so that the plunger 41 moves rapidly upward and remains there so long as the faucet 15 remains open and water or beverage is flowing through the system.

The flow control part of the valve 28 comprises a sleeve 49 having a deep V-shaped notch 50 formed in its side wall and opening through the top of the sleeve. Slideably received within the sleeve 49 is a lightweight ball 51 which is yieldably biased upwardly by a light coil spring 52. The ball 51 is accurately fitted within the sleeve 49 so that most of the syrup coming down through the valve seat 44 must escape through that portion of the slot 50 which is contiguous to the ball 51. If the pressure of the incoming syrup is greater, as would be the case when the container 25 is full, for example, the ball 51 will be forced down further in the sleeve 49 against the action of spring 52 to restrict the passage provided by that portion of the slot 50 which is contiguous to the ball.

The ball 51 is made of a material such as Teflon which possesses a fairly high coeflicient of thermoexpansion so that if the syrup coming through the valve 28 should decrease appreciably in temperature the ball will contract and allow syrup to escape past it around its entire periphery to thereby compensate for the increased resistance to flow which would otherwise occur.

The output of valve 43, 44 may be discharged anywhere into the system including the nozzle 37 or the entry end of the coil 12 so long as it is fairly evenly mixed with the water in the consumers glass. However, in the embodiment illustrated, the discharge is made through conduit 53 into the space 30 of the faucet assembly 15 where it intermixes with the water discharging from the restriction line 29. In connection with the latter, it should be noted that the scale thereof is shown somewhat exaggerated in size in comparison with the components 10, 11, 12 and 13. Also, it should be understood that the faucet structure 15 may be mounted above or even remote from the cooling bath tank 10 so long as the parts, and particularly the coil 29, are adequately refrigerated. In a further possible embodiment, the restriction coil 29 may be allowed to remain in the cooling bath and the other parts of the faucet 15 supported on or remote from the tank 10.

In some installations, and oft times dependent on the nature of the flavoring syrup furnished by container 25, it may be desirable to use mixing water of a much lower degree of carbonation than that normally furnished by the carbonator 13. In this case, plain water from the source 17 may be blended into the carbonated water entering the coil 12 through check valve 54, flow control valve 55, and conduit 56. By adjusting the rate of flow through valve 55 in relation to the rate of flow through valve 39, any desired degree of carbonation in the liquid issuing from the serving nozzle 37 may be provided.

It should also be observed that a valve similar to the valve 28 and similarly connected into the system may be employed in place of the valve 55 to blend in plain water with the carbonated water to provide an end drink of low carbonation. Alternatively, in an appropriate system, the flow control valve 55 may be used and a pilotoperated flow control valve substituted for the valve 39. It should therefore be apparent that the present invention extends to the concepts of blending plain and highly carbonated water to provide end drinks of low carbonation. This arrangement is especially useful in multiple faucet installations where it is desired to dispense a highly carbonated drink from one or more faucets and a low carbonated drink from another faucet while requiring only one carbonator. The blending may be done with flow control and check valves as herein illustrated or with a combination of a pilot-operated valve and a flow control valve, as herein taught.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. Apparatus for dispensing beverages mixed from water and flavoring syrup comprising a cooling coil for the water or beverage discharging into a dispensing faucet, means to supply water to said coil at a controlled rate upon the opening of the faucet, and means to introduce into the water passage extending through said coil and faucet flavoring syrup at a controlled rate, the latter means being operative upon the opening of said faucet, said syrup introduction means comprising a pilot-operated flow control valve, and further including means operative in response to the pressure drop at spaced points along said passage upon opening of the faucet to open said pilot-operated valve.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 further including a refrigerated water bath in which said cooling coil is immersed, and further including a closed type of carbonator immersed bodily in said bath and operative to furnish carbonated water to the inlet of said cooling coil from a source of plain Water.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 further including an elongated restricted passage positioned intermediate the cooling coil and the outlet control valve of said faucet whereby when said outlet valve is opened the pressure existent in the cooling coil and provided by said carbonator will be dissipated before the liquid flowing through said coil and restricted passage reaches said outlet control valve.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 further characterized in that said means to introduce flavoring syrup comprises a pressurized tank containing a supply of the syrup.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner.

HADD S. LANE, Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING BEVERAGES MIXED FROM WATER AND FLAVORING SYRUP COMPRISING A COOLING COIL FOR THE WATER OR BEVERAGE DISCHARGING INTO A DISPENSING FAUCET, MEANS TO SUPPLY WATER TO SAID COIL AT A CONTROLLED RATE UPON THE OPENING OF THE FAUCET, AND MEANS TO INTRODUCE INTO THE WATER PASSAGE EXTENDING THROUGH SAID COIL AND FACUET FLAVORING SYRUP AT A CONTROLLED RATE, THE LATTER MEANS BEING OPERATIVE UPON THE OPENING OF SAID FAUCET, SAID SYRUP INTRODUCTION MEANS COMPRISING A PILOT-OPERATED FLOW CONTROL VALVE, AND FURTHER INCLUDING MEANS OPERATIVE IN RESPONSE TO THE PRESSURE DROP AT SPACED POINTS ALONG SAID PASSAGE UPON OPENING OF THE FAUCET TO OPEN SAID PILOT-OPERATED VALVE. 